| The Memphis Group by Derek Higgs | |||||
Before this trip, Steve and I had met only once for lunch. Most of the time I've known him we have only discussed stuff over the Internet, even though we work on the same road but two miles apart every day. He has been looking for real aircraft parts to start his cockpit with for several months now, but not really getting any response from a lot of the people he's been sending e-mails to. He finally got hold of Newell Williams, who is a salesperson for The Memphis Group, a company who is in the business of spares support and parts refurbishment for the airline industry. The Memphis group is also involved in aircraft disassembly. Newell invited him down to Memphis and Steve asked me if I wanted to come along. Hell, yes! We left right after work on Friday for the six-hour trip to Memphis. It might be in the same state, but the largest city in Tennessee is 390 miles from Knoxville, where we started out. We could have gone to the beach in less time! We finally arrived at the hotel we booked and hit the sack. The next morning, we went to the offices of The Memphis Group and met up with Newell and his father-in-law. Newell has been working for The Memphis Group for sixteen years, but had never been down to Greenwood. He seemed just as excited as we were to take the trip down there! His father-in-law had just retired from the Tennessee Air Guard as a loadmaster on C-130's and C-141's and he had many interesting stories to tell on the way. Greenwood, Mississippi is located 140 miles from Memphis, right on the edge of the Mississippi delta. It was a 2-hour trip from Memphis. Living in Tennessee, I thought I lived in the South. I was mistaken. Where we went was The South! It seemed like a whole different way of life down there. When we turned
off the main road onto the airport access road in Greenwood, we started
to see the tails of several aircraft poking over the trees. Most of them
had their former airline markings painted over, but the color and design
of the graphics gave their former owners away. There were two former TWA
L-1011s, three or four ex-United 747-100's, a generic DC-10, a ex - Polar
Air Cargo 747-100, and several ex Olympic and Garuda A-300s parked in front
of the main hanger. More aircraft were located further down the runway,
including 3 or so ex United 737's, the nose section of another 737, and
three more 747's in various stages of disassembly. Other aircraft that
I didn't pay much attention to were also parked off to the side.
At the main
hanger, we met Richard Cordel, who was the Head guy there at the salvage
area. Richard is a wiry older gentleman who has been in the aircraft parts
business for many, many years. He has cut up more planes than he could
count in locations all over the world. His office is a virtual museum to
the aviation industry over the last several decades, with photos, newspaper
clippings, nameplates, etc. lining the walls. Of course, the main hangar
at the yard itself is full of parts of aircraft sorted out into neat piles.
Seats over in the corner. Brake pads, arranged on pallets. Ductwork, doors,
flaps, linkages and more were everywhere.
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Field Trip: The Memphis Group
The
Trip
